What: A Czech New Wave Classic, Loves of a Blonde is one of Milos Forman’s earliest films and one of his most overlooked.

Why:

• Spring is here and that can only mean two things: young love and the anniversary of the Prague Spring, a period of political relaxation in Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia. So get out your checkerboard picnic blanket and cuddle up with a classic of the Czech New Wave cinema.

• Famous for the American classics One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, filmmaker Milos Forman got his start as one of the founding directors of the Czech New Wave, a 1960s film movement that emphasized individual humanity in the face of overwhelming Communist bureaucracy.

• Loves of a Blonde is one of the greatest films about teenagers that neither patronizes nor stereotypes their behavior. The main character, Andula, spends the entire movie making mistakes, constantly setting herself up for disappointment. But Mr. Forman never ridicules or condescends her decision-making. He’s one of the few filmmakers (among Francois Truffaut, George Lucas and John Hughes) to allow young people to be real characters.

• The three acts of the film are unique in that they have three distinct tones: social satire, emotional intimacy and domestic drama. Here’s a clip from the emotional intimacy section of the movie, one of the best, most honest depiction of teenage sexuality on-screen: